Moments
by Thaumaturgy
Summary: Brief snapshots of the relationships of our favorite Hogwarts couples, I.e. JamesLily, HarryHermione, and DracoGinny.
1. Chapter 1

**Moments **

Brief snapshots of the relationships of our favorite Hogwarts couples, I.e. James/Lily, Harry/Hermione, and Draco/Ginny.

Disclaimer: Not mine. This should be obvious because the above pairings are mostly not canon. Curse you, J.K.!

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**I.**

"Harry, would you hand me that book?" Harry looked up from his potions essay at the curly-haired brunette next to him and reached for the text she was gesturing towards, feeling inexplicably delighted when she favored him with a grateful smile. He smiled back as he handed the book over, and grinned as she buried her nose in it like a starving man, or Ron, dives for a plate of food. His essay forgotten for a moment, he watched her as she read, feeling almost like he was witness to some sacred ritual. Reading was her favorite thing, after all, and he could tell as he watched. Tell from the way her eyes never moved from the page, tell from the way she ignored or simply didn't notice a corkscrew strand of hair that had escaped from the bun on the back to her head that just barely contained the glossy chestnut strands. Smiling again, more softly than before, he reached over to tuck the strand behind her head, and she jerked up in surprise. "Harry? What—"

He shrugged. "You had hair in your eyes," he explained, and she tucked her nose in the leather-bound text again, only to start up for the second time in so many minutes when Harry's chair relocated itself to behind hers and she felt his hands, strong and with a large callus on the base of his right thumb from years of wand-holding, release her hair from its pins and tie.  
"Harry, what on Earth do you think you're doing?"

"Fixing your hair," he replied casually, glad she could not see the faint pink spreading across his face, and indeed, she could feel his fingers running idly through her hair, tucking tendrils up and securing them with pins more thoroughly than she had done it herself. They relapsed into the comfortable silence of before, Harry running his fingers through Hermione's hair and silently reveling in the softness of it, Hermione reading about the early Goblin Wars but secretly leaning further back in her chair at the quiet comfort of his fingers entwined in her tresses, and stayed that way until Harry realized with a start that he still hadn't finished his potions essay.

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More to come. Please review!


	2. Chapter 2

**Moments **

Brief snapshots of the relationships of our favorite Hogwarts couples, I.e. James/Lily, Harry/Hermione, and Draco/Ginny.

Disclaimer: Not mine. This should be obvious because the above pairings are mostly not canon. Curse you, J.K.!

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**II.**

It had all begun in first year, on that very first train ride on the scarlet behemoth. James Potter had squirmed away from his mother's hug, his father's hand on his head untidying the already messy black strands, and nearly run for the train. Once inside the boy, cocky even at eleven, had nearly run into an absolutely tiny head of red hair that had looked up at him with brilliant green eyes and asked with a small voice if he knew of an empty compartment. James had jerked his hand at one he had just passed in his search for other students and the girl flashed a tiny grin, hurrying off in the direction he had indicated.

A year and a summer passed, and James was somehow not surprised to see the girl who he now knew was called Lily Evans on the train again, pausing momentarily to watch her bid goodbye to parents and a sullen girl—a sister? Third year James knew her as more than a red-haloed face, and was quietly glad to see her run to meet another girl, obviously a close friend, as she crossed into the Hogwarts platform. Fourth year house elves were dancing a jig in his stomach when her face appeared, and he approached her to say hello with a cocky, borderline smug grin that showed none of his nervousness at talking to his crush. Fifth year he inwardly marveled at the strong-willed beauty that had taken the place of the shy little first year, and when he said hello he added a offer for a date as well, half in jest, half in heart-in-throat hope. Sixth year he didn't bother to approach, weathering her glares with an indifferent face and a temper that earned him an empty apartment for the first time. And seventh year he held hope in his hands again, and sat beside her in her compartment making small talk about the books she loved, and when the train stopped it was with long-anticipated joy that James held Lily's books for her and was rewarded with a sweet smile as they stepped off the Hogwarts Express and into the year.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Moments **

Hey minna! This is Oralindie, and I'm here because FC isn't. Because she was a bad girl and got a bad grade (yes, **_a_**, as in sigular, one, un, uno) and her parents over reacted andtook her computer away for six weeks. Poor FC. Anywho, I shall be updating for her,so as a result of this she shall not be able to respond to your reviews, but know that she loves all her reviewers!

Disclaimer: You all know the drill.

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**III.**

Ginny raced down the halls, cursing the stupid Founders who had seen fit to make it more or less impossible to get to a class when you were running late. It was absolutely, positively sadistic.

A jolt knocked Ginny clear off her feet, and she blinked stars from her eyes to find the one and only Draco Malfoy hauling himself irritably off the stone.

Oh. Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant. What had she been thinking about sadistic again?

"One must wonder how you can fly a broom with that **impeccable** grace, Weaselette."

Ouch. And, shockingly, she did feel almost—guilty? Of course, there was no one in Hogwarts she would have rather knocked on their bum, and it was quite entertaining to see the great Malfoy's robes askew and his hair falling slightly out of its gelled perfection, but still. It had been all her fault, too, no way getting around that, and a quick glance at her watch convinced Ginny that the best way to make it out of this with her honor, temper, and class record all moderately intact was to apologize now and beat it.

"Um—" Ooh, **really** don't like apologizing to him—"Sorry about that." Yeah, never doing this again. Much too painful—in lots of ways.

He looked at her with a sneer, letting her know very clearly, if inaudibly, that he considered her apology to be less than adequate. And Ginny was fast losing what good temper she had had in the first place. "Look, I said I was sorry, alright? I've got to go to class. Hope I didn't contaminate you too much." Glaring now, Ginny whirled around and began to march away, only to be stopped by a brief, light touch on her arm that was quickly withdrawn. Ginny spun about again, only to see Malfoy looking away, bored, and holding out a raggedy owl-feather quill. "You're forgetting things now, Weaselette."

Ginny stared at him in shock for a brief moment before taking the quill hesitantly, and then dashing off to class as fast as her legs could carry her. And, even more surprisingly, when she received an anonymous package a few days later in the owl post, she didn't even mind that the sumptuous eagle-feather quill inside was tipped in green with a silver nib.

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	4. Chapter 4

**Moments **

Brief snapshots of the relationships of our favorite Hogwarts couples, I.e. James/Lily, Harry/Hermione, and Draco/Ginny.

Disclaimer: Not mine. This should be obvious because the above pairings are mostly not canon. Curse you, J.K.!

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**IV. Mistakes**

It was a mistake, they knew, when they began meeting in secret in the Room of Requirement after a botched spell trapped them inside an opaque bubble for hours. It was a mistake to even talk at all inside said bubble, besides the required insults. It was a mistake to loosen their guards when they were trapped, so much that when the spell was finally undone, they had to spring apart hastily and don fierce glares. It was a mistake, when they began to secretly meet, to not stop what was quickly becoming habit when they realized how much they secretly enjoyed the other's company. It was a mistake to silently agree that, inside the Room, which had taken many different forms over the course of their talks, they were not Malfoy and Weaselette but Draco and Ginny, not born enemies but simple teenagers. It was a mistake for her to suddenly confide in him one night about the fear she lived with for her family, so deeply entrenched in the war, and it was a mistake for him to tell her soon afterwards that he was being pressured to join the Death Eaters, but didn't want to kill anyone. It was a mistake for him to kiss her on a night when the Room was cloaked in deep velvets and silver greens, and it was a mistake for her to return the kiss as the décor blossomed into crimson gold. It was a mistake to let themselves fall in love the way they did, and a mistake to not break it off then, while they still could, a mistake to let their most secret desires for their lives take control and spin them into a whirlwind, a chess game that neither of them, not her with her Weasley heritage nor him with his Malfoy intelligence, could win. It was all a mistake, and they both knew it—but somehow, even as the men he worked to allow into the castle killed the headmaster who had been the beacon of the light she supported, neither of them could find it in themselves to regret it.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Moments **

Brief snapshots of the relationships of our favorite Hogwarts couples, I.e. James/Lily, Harry/Hermione, and Draco/Ginny.

Disclaimer: Not mine. This should be obvious because the above pairings are mostly not canon. Curse you, J.K.!

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**V. When?**

When did he fall in love with her?

It's a question Harry has asked himself hundreds of times, but he still doesn't know the answer. Was it the first time he saw her? It couldn't be, because he remembers that time clearly, and there was no earth-shattering revelation that the bossy girl in front of him would command his heart so utterly. Was it when he saw her in class, raising her hand and answering smartly as he watched with bewilderment? It couldn't have been then either, because there were no whistles interrupting the professors' voices, no clanging bells announcing the arrival of his true love. It could have been when he saved her from the troll, his foolish bravado fueled by secret feelings, but, romantic as it would be, it wasn't then, and he acted more from guilt than hidden love. It wasn't when she was petrified, although he remembers that time with a clenched heart, seeing her white and cold as marble, her face frozen in fear. Nor was it when he fought with her to save Buckbeak, although seeing her collapse to the ground, caught in her worst memories, was more terrifying than he likes to recall. It could well have been when he saw her enter the Yule Ball, looking amazing, glowing with beauty, and although he remembers the incident with no small amount of jealousy, a realization that then was when he fell in love with the curly-haired girl is distinctly lacking. The fact is, he really doesn't know when it happened—he only knows that it did, and that there was nothing that he could have done to prevent it, even if he wanted to. It was inevitable, natural, right, far from the only thing in his life he has no control over, yet the only thing he doesn't mind not being free to stop. Falling for her hard took so long, but he can't remember the passage of time before it happened—it took an eternity to understand, but it's something he might have always known. Glancing sideways at Hermione in the library, who is still, despite her extraordinary intelligence, oblivious to his feelings, Harry sighs and turns back to his contemplation, and devoutly hopes that telling her won't be as much of a problem.


End file.
